# Is Mary Lynn Rajskub playing a character? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mary-lynn-rajskub-playing-a-character/591742 "2011-08-06T16:16:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mary-lynn-rajskub-playing-a-character/591742/1 "2011-08-06T16:16:15Z")
Mary Lynn Rajskub is an actor whom I remember most as the assistant to Janeane Garofalo’s character on _The Larry Sanders Show_. I thought she was a good comedic actor and since then I believe she’s become more famous for her role in _24_ as some kind of analyst with a personality disorder. I haven’t ever actually seen _24_, so I’m just going on what I’ve read and heard on the radio. I have an understanding (perhaps mistaken) that her character’s personality disorder is to some extent based on Rajskub’s real life. I just watched Rajskub’s sets on _John Oliver’s New York Standup Show_, and, frankly, I don’t know what to think of it. Seeing it purely as standup comedy, I’d say that it was sort of middling quality. But what puzzles me is that I can’t tell whether it’s actually confessional comedy (à la modern Louis C.K.) or whether it’s surreal character comedy (like Sarah Silverman). As confessional comedy, it’s really fucked up. And it seems odd. She does a bit about getting pregnant after a one-night stand. She goes to visit her parents to tell them what happened, and the punch line is “I realized that I’m 37 years old and I can do whatever I want.” What’s odd is that she doesn’t actually act as if she had actually gotten pregnant. Is that part of her personality disorder? As character comedy, I don’t think it really works. Someone like Sarah Silverman is high-octane satire and you can get what kinds of societal attitudes she’s lampooning. Rajskub’s character, if that’s what it is, doesn’t seem to be satire. She just seems to be odd, and not necessarily in a funny way. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mary-lynn-rajskub-playing-a-character/591742/2 "2011-08-06T17:06:00Z")
Maybe you have to watch the whole thing. > [@](#): > > From July through October 2010, she performed in her solo show, Mary Lynn Spreads Her Legs, at the Steve Allen Theater in Los Angeles. Reviewer F. Kathleen Foley of the Los Angeles Times wrote, “That cheerfully vulgar title sums up the overall tone, which is often breezily obscene.”[3] The show, written by Rajskub with help from director/developer Amit Itelman, was inspired by Rajskub’s experiences with pregnancy, childbirth and early motherhood. She married her boyfriend in 2009. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mary-lynn-rajskub-playing-a-character/591742/3 "2011-08-06T17:22:18Z")
Maybe. I’ll look it up. I thought of a third option: She’s just a really bad standup comedian. ---
**Author:** ![I-VI-ii-V](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c89c15/32.png) [@I-VI-ii-V](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I-VI-ii-V)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mary-lynn-rajskub-playing-a-character/591742/4 "2011-08-07T05:55:40Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Maybe you have to watch the whole thing. I saw her standup act (short set) a few years ago at the Upright Citizens Brigade in L.A. and liked her. However, after reading good reviews about her previous solo show I saw MLSHL at the Steve Allen. It was disappointing.